Interlocking flooring of various types is well known. Such flooring is often referred to as “floating” because none of the flooring panels, whether they are elongated rectangular boards or less elongated panels, are secured to the subfloor.
Perhaps the most well-known type of locking flooring is tongue-in-groove floor boards, in which the tongue-in-groove feature provides locking against vertical movement along the two long edges of elongated floor boards—tongue-in-groove flooring did not originally have any locking features along the two short edges of the floor boards. Over time, the long edges of floor panels have gained both horizontal and vertical locking features, as have the short edges. U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,058 describes one type of interlocking floor panels that has both long and short interlocking edges. As is recognized, the locking features may be used with many different types of materials, such as floor panels which have a rigid high density fiberboard (HDF) core, with such HDF core panels having either a hard surface coating or a resilient plasticized vinyl surface coating, or floor panels which have a resilient core with a resilient plasticized vinyl surface.
For floor panels which have a resilient core, it is also known that certain types of locking features do not provide the same longevity for the flooring as they do for floor panels having stiffer core materials. The resilient core material that makes such floor panels desirable also makes the floor panels more susceptible to separation, pulling apart, and/or curling at the locking edges.
One type of interlocking floor panel that has been introduced in an attempt to overcome this problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,365,499. In this type of floor panel, one which has a resilient core material, the shape of the locking features has been altered to gain a better locking coupling between adjacent floor panels. However, one result of this alteration to the locking features is that the floor panels need to be bent and rolled into locking engagement with a previously set floor panel. The necessary rolling for installation adds both time and difficulty to the installation process, especially for individuals, such as do-it-yourself homeowners, who are not experienced with the installation technique.
For these reasons, an improved design for floor panels having a resilient core material is desired. Embodiments of the present invention are designed to meeting these needs.